News and media outlets have seen a startling increase in the number of violent attacks on both journalists and facilities. One jaw-dropping incident took place only several miles from the Alertus Technologies headquarters at theCapital Gazette in Annapolis, MD when a gunman forced his way into the facility and killed five employees. Unfortunately, this incident is only one of many we’ve seen in recent months. While it is hard to always control external threats, there are actions organizations can take to better address and respond to these threats, and it starts with emergency mass notification.

When an incident occurs, notifying staff and any visitors on site of what to do and where to go is a critical step of your emergency response protocol. A reliable emergency mass notification system can help you achieve this by quickly getting important information out to as many alerting endpoints as possible.

The most effective way to accomplish this is to use the technology and assets that you already have on hand. Media facilities’ asset-rich environments make it easy to create a layered approach that can reach more people in more places.Televisions,digital signage,computers,mobile devices, anddesk phones can be used in emergencies as ADA-compliant, audible and visual alerting devices, to guarantee that people receive critical information.

Leveraging mobile devices for personal notification also delivers the peace of mind that whether people are in the facility or on-the-go tackling a big story, they are never without potentially life-saving notification.

Effective systems also provide numerous, instant activation methods for rapid notification deployment. For example, variouspanic buttons can be integrated into the notification system with predetermined functionality. When an emergency transpires, the push of the button can immediately send the right message to the appropriate alerting endpoints in mere seconds, allowing dispatchers to quickly respond to the emergency, remove the chance for human error in a stressful situation, and perform the necessary actions for their own safety.